


light up all sides at once

by QuietLittleVoices



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Halloween vibes but it isn't halloween, Homecoming, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-08 14:59:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16431641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietLittleVoices/pseuds/QuietLittleVoices
Summary: Jack Wright is reported missing the first day of homecoming week.





	1. Monday

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how to describe this fic other than that it's... basically just a high school drama. The influences on this fic are pretty obvious I think.

Sammy knew something was wrong as soon as he got to school on Monday. Jack usually waited by the front doors for him, having run out of the locker room after practice, but maybe he was just delayed. Maybe he had to give a pep speech about the homecoming game on Friday, or the guys were harassing him about being the likely homecoming king.

He got out of his car and walked to his locker on the second floor, keeping an eye out but not noticing anything. As he closed the door, he noticed the second weird thing of the day - Lily Wright, storming towards him.

“Where is he?” she hissed.

Sammy froze. “What do you mean?”

“I  _ know _ you saw him last night, Stevens,” she says. “Where’s Jack?”

Sammy felt his world fall apart. “He said he was going to bed early,” he said slowly, trying to steady his rapid breathing. “He said - he said he would text me, but he never did. I just thought he forgot.”

Lily pressed her lips together and Sammy resisted the urge to shrink away from her. Even in a comically warm-weather sundress with a necklace of plastic flowers wrapped around her head like a crown, she was terrifying. “I don’t know what’s going on, Stevens,” she said slowly, “but if anything happened to Jack then it’s your fault.”

Sammy watched as Lily stormed away through a crowd of students in equally ridiculous outfits. He put his books back in his locker and went outside, dialing Jack as he went. Jack didn’t pick up, and Sammy didn’t bother to leave a message at first. 

The first bell rang and Sammy didn’t go inside. He sent Jack a text and then called again. “Hey,” he said into the answering machine. “I dunno if you just - just slept in, or what. Lily said she can’t find you and I - this is gonna seem so stupid when you show up at lunch, huh? Text me back when you hear this.”

He tried to call Jack’s parents but no one picked up, so he pulled a cigarette out of his bag and lit it. Jack hated when he smoked, but Jack wasn’t there to see it and Sammy was starting to get stressed. It wasn’t like Jack to sleep in or not reply.

Sammy snubbed out his cigarette when the first class ended and went inside, grabbing his books from his locker and sliding into his history class five minutes late. Normally he shared this class with Jack, and there was an empty seat next to his. He liked to sit in the back, while Jack sat in the front, so they compromised for the classes they shared and went to the middle of the room.

He didn’t take any notes the whole hour, and he beat himself up over it because Jack would want to copy off him when he got there.

Jack didn’t show up at lunch. Sammy sat in their usual spot - in the cafeteria near the football guys that Jack was friends with, but still on their own - and ate alone. He sent another text and still got no reply. 

The bell for the end of lunch rang. Most students started to pack up, aside from people with a free period or who were just planning on skipping, and go to their next class. After the second bell, when most people had finished filing into class, the two-toned hum of the intercom rang. A few students exchanged glances and Sammy heard murmuring about what it could be. There weren’t normally after-lunch announcements, so any time it came on after the beginning of the day usually meant -

Principal Grisham’s voice came on. “It has come to the attention of the faculty and school board that a student has been reported missing. If anyone has any information about the whereabouts of Jack Wright, you can tell a teacher or contact the authorities. For anyone affected by this, you can report to the guidance office at any time. Finally, could Samuel Stevens please report to the principal’s office?”

Sammy felt every eye in the room turn to him. Blood rushed through his head, pounding in his ears, his chest heaving as he tried to understand. He couldn’t feel the tips of his fingers. 

“Sammy?” the teacher asked, and when he looked up and met her eyes she looked concerned. “Do you need a hand?”

He shook his head, shoving his books back into his bag messily and running out of the room without a word.

 

He didn’t intend to actually go to the principal’s office but he ended up there anyway. There was only one way out of the school and it went past the office, and as he walked by he felt himself turn almost against his will - he  _ needed  _ to know what they wanted from him, and if it had anything to do with Jack. 

Sammy didn’t make eye contact with the secretary as he passed, heading right to where he knew Mr. Grisham’s door was. He’d never been called to the principal’s office before, but he’d gone to pick up Jack from the nurse’s office off the same main room enough times that he knew right where to go. 

He stopped to knock and was immediately called in. 

Mr. Grisham wasn’t alone in the office. There were two chairs in front of his desk, and one of them was already filled with a woman that Sammy didn’t recognize. 

“Hi, Samuel,” Mr. Grisham said pleasantly. “Please, take a seat.” The offer sounded like there was more than one option, and for a horrifying second Sammy wondered if he was the only one who could see the woman. But then Mr. Grisham spoke again once he took the open seat. “This is Detective Reagan Spears.”

“Nice to meet you,” she said. “You look like a Sammy. Can I call you Sammy?”

Sammy shrugged. “Sure. What - sorry, but. What’s going on?”

“As I’m sure you’ve heard, Sammy, one of the students here was reported missing this morning by his parents,” Detective Spears said. “I already spoke to his sister and she told me that you were the last one who talked to him last night. Can you tell me about that? Any detail, no matter how small, might relevant.”

Sammy looked down at his hands, resting palm-down on his thighs, and flipped them to face up. “I wasn’t,” he muttered. “I dropped him off at home, then I went home, and - and I never talked to him again. I watched him walk in the front door.”

The reality of the situation hit him all at once. Jack was gone - what had happened last night was the last things Jack had done. The last time Sammy had seen him, and maybe ever would. He tried not to let any of it show on his face even though he felt like he’d just been hit by a ton of bricks or dropped off a building.

Detective Spears just nodded. “Tell me about last night anyway, okay? She told us that you picked Jack up from football practice. Do you do that often?”

Sammy nodded. “Most nights, yeah. Lily and Jack share a car and she usually has to get to work before his football practice ends, so normally she’ll drive him there and I’ll come and pick him up.”

“That’s very nice of you,” she said softly, but a little awkwardly. Like she knew she was meant to reassure and comfort children but couldn’t tell the difference between an eighteen year old and an eight year old. “Do you normally drive him right home, or do you go somewhere else first?”

Sammy worried at a rip in the knee of his jeans. “We got dinner, and then I drove him home.”

“Did he say anything to indicate if he was meeting anyone, or going anywhere else later?” she asked. “Or anything out of the ordinary.”

Sammy shook his head. “No. It was - it was all normal.”

 

_ Sunday, 5 PM.  _

Jack jumped into the car and immediately kissed Sammy. Sammy leaned into it, indulging him for a second, before pulling away. “I haven’t seen any of the other football guys leave yet,” Sammy pointed out. “Could be any second.”

Jack groaned. “Don’t remind me. They keep talked about how I’m  _ for sure  _ going to be homecoming king, and trying to figure out who the queen will be. They kept joking it would be Lily, like that would be a  _ bad _ thing.”

“Too bad Lily isn’t exactly winning any goodwill for that vote,” Sammy joked.

“Exactly.” Jack sat back in his seat. “Can we just - go somewhere? I don’t want to go home.”

Sammy nodded. He wasn’t about to deny Jack anything. 


	2. Tuesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've edited this chapter like four times R.I.P. me

Sammy stamped out his cigarette just as a short kid with curly hair and glasses walked up. As he approached Sammy realized he wasn’t actually  _ that _ short, or a kid, but most other students were shorter than him except Jack. Sammy almost wanted to ask if he was dressed like that for whatever theme the day was - ‘nerd day’ or something equally ridiculous, Sammy thought - but he could see that the glasses were definitely real as he approached.

“My name’s Ben,” the not-kid said, “and I think I know what happened to Jack Wright.”

Sammy shook his head. “The cops don’t even have any leads. What makes you think you know more than they do?” 

Ben paused. “I don’t have any evidence,” he admitted, “but it’s more than a hunch.” 

Sammy sighed. “Shoot. What do you have?”

“There’ve been reports of whispering heard from the trees surrounding the park,” Ben started slowly. 

“You mean the stoners park?” Sammy scoffed. “I’m surprised they aren’t seeing full-body ghosts - apparitions, sorry, I know - walking out of the forest every night.” Ben froze and Sammy couldn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Seriously? Apparitions?”

Ben shrugged. “It’s reputable.”

“Doyle’s e-mail newsletter isn’t a peer-reviewed source,” Sammy pointed out. 

“ _ Not _ Doyle,” Ben amendes. “Real-reputable. Mr. Simmons, the drama teacher? He said that Sheila, the secretary, said that her nephew saw it.”

Sammy shook his head. “Do you really think that Mr. Simmons gossip tree is  _ real _ -reputable?”

“It’s not  _ just _ that,” Ben said, letting out a frustrated noise.

“Then what is it?” Sammy argued. He didn’t want to get mad at Ben, but he couldn’t see what the point of the conversation was. “If there aren’t reports of anything outside of Doyle and Mr. Simmons fifth-hand stories then I don’t want to hear it.”

“There’s been reports for years of weird stuff happening in Perdition Woods,” Ben countered. “Growing up in King Falls, you have to know that.”

“I didn’t grow up in King Falls,” Sammy replied. “So no, I don’t know that. All the weird shit in this town - I don’t know. There’s more  _ stories _ here then anywhere I’ve lived but I don’t have more reason to believe that there’s apparitions in Perdition Woods than I do to believe in alligators living in New York’s sewers. They don’t,” he added briskly when Ben looked like he wanted to interrupt. “Please tell me you don’t believe in sewer gators.”

Ben laughed. “No, I don’t. God, that’s crazy.”

“But apparitions?” Sammy asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s all believable to you.”

Ben looked uncomfortable under Sammy’s watch. “Yeah. I can’t - I mean, clearly I can’t explain it to you, but yeah. Things like sewer gators - those would be real gators in real sewers, that’s something that can be easily figured out. How they got there, why, et cetera. Apparitions aren’t so straight-forward, and I can tell that’s exactly why you can’t believe in them, but it’s why I do. There’s something more than what we can… understand and perceive and whatever. We just haven’t figured it out yet.”

The first bell rang and Ben started to look agitated so Sammy decided to go easy on him. “Meet me here after school and we’ll - I don’t know. We’ll investigate this little theory, okay?”

Ben grinned at him. “You won’t regret it,” he promised, immediately running off towards the main building.

“I already do,” Sammy muttered, following slowly behind him.

 

Sammy didn’t bother going to his locker until lunch time. He hadn’t been paying attention in class anyway, and he had a notebook to help him pretend to look busy. And without Jack there, he could sit in the back and not be bothered by any of the teachers. They all seemed to be avoiding looking at him, though, and so where all the other students. He started to wonder if maybe he’d become an apparition himself and no one had bothered to let him know, but then he saw it.

Painted across his locker in bright red dripping letters was the word ‘killer’, slanted so that it touched on his neighbours lockers but was clearly centered on his.

He felt something like bile rise up in his throat. He wanted to kick the wall or break something or find who did this and - 

Lily was walking up to him. She grabbed his arm and started to walk him away from it. 

“What do you want, Lily?” he asked as soon as they were on their own, once people had gotten past the spectacle and moved on to lunch. 

“I know you didn’t kill him,” she started. “I don’t know what idiot would have written that, and it sucks that they did because - well. I know how gossip works at this school.”

“I’m sure they knew before me,” he muttered. “They were all - tittering in the hallways about it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be dramatic. This doesn’t mean I don’t think you aren’t responsible.”

Sammy gritted his teeth. “What do you  _ mean _ ? If I didn’t kill him but it’s still my fault then what do you think even  _ happened _ that night?”

“He got home and he was all worked up,” she said. “I don’t know about what, and then I went into his room and asked him about you and he ran off. I figured he was going to meet you, and at the very least he left because I asked about you.”

“I’m not Jack’s keeper,” Sammy argued. “I didn’t see him again after I dropped him off, so I don’t know how that has  _ anything _ to do with me.”

Lily pressed her lips into a thin line. “Could have fooled me.”

“What do you mean?” Sammy said insistently, clamping his teeth down to keep himself from bursting or to keep the rage that he felt earlier from boiling up. “He was my best friend, Lily. You know that. Do you think I don’t want to know exactly what happened?”

“Best friend?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Sammy felt his face heat up and could taste the anger at the base of his tongue. “I don’t know what you’re implying,” he said slowly, not meeting her eyes anymore, “but I am in no way responsible for Jack’s disappearance, all right? There’s nothing I could have done about it, and he didn’t do anything because of me.”

“Sure,” Lily said, clearly not in agreement. “You keep telling yourself that.”

Before Sammy could get a word in edgewise, she turned on her heel and walked away. The doors to the stairwell they were standing in slammed closing, causing the flyers for homecoming to flutter and Sammy just stood and watched her go through the window.

 

Sammy skipped the rest of his classes but came back for Ben, who slipped into the passenger seat of his car silently.

“I saw -” Ben started.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Sammy interrupted, and Ben just nodded.

The silence stretched between them while Sammy drove them out of the school’s area and started to direct them out of town. “Where did you wanna go?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Keep going this way,” Ben instructed. The silence continued to win out over the car after that, punctuated only by Ben’s brief instructions which lead them only about fifteen minutes outside of town to a stretch of woods that didn’t look like it was a real hiking spot.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Sammy asked cautiously and Ben rolled his eyes. 

“Safe as it can be,” Ben answered, setting off towards the trees. He seemed to just pick a direction at random, but Sammy hope that Ben at least had some idea of what they were heading towards.

Eventually, Sammy couldn’t take the silence. “Why this path? What’s special here?”

Ben’s shoulders tensed in front of him. “It’s a path my dad would take me on when he went hunting,” he said, voice terse and uncomfortable. “Sometimes he’d leave me alone and I’d… see things.”

“Apparitions?” Sammy asked.

“Laugh all you want,” Ben muttered, picking his way over a fallen tree, and Sammy felt a pang because he hadn’t meant it to be a dig at Ben. “These woods aren’t normal.”

Wind blew through the trees, causing them to shudder around Sammy and Ben like they knew they were being talked about. It seemed to get a little bit darker, too, and Sammy looked up and couldn’t find the sun from his vantage point.

“They sure are creepy,” Sammy offered. “I don’t know about not being normal. All forests are some kind of creepy.”

“You’re not very outdoors-y, are you?” Ben asked, looking over his shoulder with a teasing look and Sammy just scoffed.

“Like you are,” he teased back, and Ben just shrugged as if to say  _ fair enough _ .

The hike continued for another half hour and Ben started to look defeated as they continued to not find anything, even though Sammy wasn’t even sure what they were supposed to find. Ben stopped and turned back towards Sammy, his shoulders slumped and his face was apologetic. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I thought - well, there was supposed to be -”

“It’s fine,” Sammy said, dismissing Ben’s apology. “I think that my lungs are bleeding, but -”

“Wait,” Ben interrupted, his eyes fixed at a point past Sammy’s left side. Sammy didn’t have another warning before Ben was off like a shot, tearing past Sammy and into worse bush than what they were already in. 

He struggled over and around shrubs and trees and Sammy followed more cautiously until Ben suddenly hollered at him to stop, which was when he started to run, barely feeling the protesting in his lungs. “What is it?” he asked insistently, voice breathless, as he caught up to Ben.

“You shouldn’t see this,” Ben said, words coming out all in a rush. “I really don’t think -”

Sammy looked over his shoulder and saw what Ben was looking at. It was - bad. It was very, very bad.

On the forest floor, partially buried, lay the body of a teenage boy. Whoever had left him there hadn’t bothered to dig a grave, just tossed some dirt over him and clearly hoped that the animals would do the rest. Sammy wanted to throw up seeing him, and not just because of the  _ death  _ of it all - from the relief, too. Because it wasn’t Jack.

After that, they hiked out of the woods and called the police to report the body, which Ben lead them to while Sammy waited by the car and was questioned. There were a lot of officers who arrived, and among them Sammy had caught a glimpse of Detective Spears, but she’d been among the group that had followed Ben back into the woods. 

A few of them followed Ben back out, and Sammy noticed one of them talking to him pretty seriously as they got back into the range of visibility. Ben, at least, looked pretty grim. Sammy figured he shouldn’t be surprised, though, given - well, everything. He was sure that he looked pretty grim, too. He was sure that they both had a lot of good reasons to be a bit dower.

Ben walked over and got into Sammy’s car, and Sammy drove him home silently.

“What were you expecting to find?” Sammy finally asked when they pulled into Ben’s driveway.

Ben shrugged. “Something, some kind of clue, maybe? Maybe if we’d seen an apparition or something else we could have  _ asked _ or… I dunno. It was a dumb idea.”

“At least it was an idea,” Sammy said. Even though it hadn’t worked out, he didn’t want Ben to feel bad. “Thanks for trying, Ben. I - just, thanks.”

Ben smiled weakly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sammy.” He got out of the car and Sammy watched as he walked up the porch steps, turning back once to wave at him. 

 

_ Sunday, 6 P.M. _

They’d have to drive at least an hour to find anywhere good to eat that no one from school would be on a Sunday night, so they ended up at their normal date spot - the parking lot two lots over from the 24-hour McDonald’s, in front of the leather-bound books store that never seemed to be open. 

“This fucking sucks,” Jack muttered, digging into his bag of food.

Sammy nodded with a grimace. “Yeah. It’s already cold and it’s only been like, ten minutes.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jack said. “I mean - this. This situation.”

“Do you not wanna hang out with me?” Sammy said lightly, adding a laugh so that the awful feeling that came up when he thought about Jack wanting to leave didn’t come through in his words.

Jack was shaking his head before Sammy was even done speaking, abandoning his food so that he could grab Sammy’s hand. “No. No, God. This is the only good part about - the situation.”

“Then what  _ do _ you mean?” Sammy prompted, looking over at him evenly.

Jack sighed. “The secrets, and everything. I want to be able to tell Lily about why we hang out so much, or be able to tell the guys to fuck off when they’re talking to me about the homecoming queen or whatever and tell them  _ hey, I’m already taken by the best guy there is _ .”

Sammy felt his face heat up a little and also something horribly acidic start to turn in his stomach. “I know what you mean but I -”

“I’m not saying we tell everyone tomorrow,” Jack said quickly. “I don’t want to do that. I don’t even know if I want those idiots to know, ever, really. They’d be - God they’d be fucking awful about it. But - Lily, maybe?” He looked over at Sammy with something like hope in his eyes and Sammy had to look away for a second before nodding.

“We could tell Lily,” Sammy agreed. “Choose a day, and we can do that.”

“And then - anyone you want,” Jack added quickly, the words tumbling out of him like he couldn’t stop now that he’d started, “you can choose a person. Then it’ll be even, and we’ll both have people.”

Sammy laughed humourlessly. “There isn’t anyone that I’d want to tell.”

Jack squeezed his hand. “Then Lily can be both of our people. She’ll hate it but… she does like you, you know. I think she’ll be really happy.”

“I hope so,” Sammy said, smiling weakly across at Jack. “I hope that she is.”


	3. Wednesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! This'll probably be it for today because I have a super super long day ahead of me.

Sammy almost cut and ran as soon as he spotted Lily in the hallway. Whatever it was she had for him, he was sure that he didn’t want to know it.

“I heard about the body,” she said as soon as she walked up.

“It wasn’t Jack,” Sammy answered quickly, even though he was sure that she already knew. If she’d heard about the incident at all, then he would hope that she’d heard that along with it. 

Her shoulders softened almost imperceptibly. “I know,” she said. “I just wanted to say. That sucks, that you saw that.”

“Thanks,” Sammy said awkwardly, feeling a little bit off-guard. “It - wasn’t great.”

“I think you need my help,” she continued.

Sammy shook his head. “No.”

Lily crossed her arms and levelled him with a look. She was over a head shorter than him and he still felt like she was looking down on him. “I’m not asking, Sammy.”

“Why now?” he asked. “You didn’t want anything to do with me before - I’m responsible for it, I think even  _ you _ said that. I have no fucking clue why you would want to help me now. Why don’t you just start your own investigation?” He felt his voice going a little harsh as he kept talking but he couldn’t help it, especially not when it came to Lily, standing outside his locker with its now-dried paint.

“He’s my twin brother,” she reminded him pointedly. “I want to find him as much as you do. I want to know what happened.”

Sammy took a deep breath. “Okay. I don’t know what we’re going to try next, though, so I can’t tell you where to meet us.”

“I’ll figure it out,” she said decisively. “I’m a phenomenal journalist.”

“For the school newspaper, sure,” Sammy said with a roll of his eyes. “This isn’t exactly on the same level as whether or not someone’s stolen test answers, or one of the teachers is unfairly grading certain students.”

“I worked really hard on that story,” she argued. “And the skills are transferable. That’s the point.”

Sammy shrugged. “Sure. Whatever you say.”

He didn’t give her the satisfaction of the last word, turning on his heel and leaving her there in the hallway.

 

Sammy went to have a smoke outside at lunch, just to be alone. He knew that Lily wouldn’t follow him out there and he doubted that Ben would frequent the smoker’s pit anymore than he had to. And he was right about the two of them, but it was Emily Potter who approached him. She was dressed head to toe in blue, and Sammy was reminded that Lily had been wearing all green. He was sure that he was meant to be as well, but he hadn’t participated in any of the theme days so far and he wasn’t planning on starting.

“I saw what happened to your locker,” she said apologetically.

Sammy had to stop himself from scoffing at her, because he knew that if anyone was being genuine about it then it was Emily. “Thanks.”

“It was Greg Frickard and his gang,” she continued. “I didn’t see them do it but they were at the library last night and I heard them talking about it.” She shuddered a little bit at the memory and Sammy grimaced in sympathy.

Sammy shrugged. “I’m not gonna report them. But thanks.”

“I didn’t really come here to tell you that,” she said, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable, “I just thought you should know. I came here to say - I heard about what you and Ben saw. I don’t think you were wrong to go into the woods, but I think you got the wrong path.”

“It was Ben’s choice,” Sammy explained. “I’ve never hiked around here, I don’t know it very well. If you have another suggestion, I’m all ears.”

“There’s a path off behind the library,” she explained. “There’s been a few reports of disappearances from people who were hiking in the area and people who’ve shown up dead a few days later. I don’t know what happened to the boy you saw, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was last seen around there.”

“What are you suggesting?” Sammy asked, because he needed to know what she was thinking as much as he didn’t actually want to hear it. He wasn’t ready to consider the possibility yet that Jack might be - that Jack was -

Emily took a deep breath. “Something strange is happening around there. That’s all. People go there, and go missing, and - if we go as a group, I think we’ll be safe and can look around a little. I don’t know if we’ll see anything, I’ve done a bit of research and - it’s pretty… it’s strange. All I know is that there  _ is _ something there.”

Sammy stamped out his half-smoked cigarette and scrubbed his hand down his face. “Might as well. Meet us by my car after school.” He pointed over towards it. “Ben and I’ll be there. Maybe Lily, too. I don’t know about her, though.”

Emily nodded, looking like she was trying to steel herself for it more than assure Sammy of anything. “I’ll be there.”

 

Lily ambushed them after school. Sammy figured she would - she knew what his car looked like, and she probably waited to see if he gathered there with anyone else because she only arrived after Emily did.

“What’s the plan?” she asked, clapping her hands together, and Sammy glared at her.

“We’re following Emily’s lead,” Sammy said, nodding towards her, and Emily looked a little bit red in the face.

Lily just nodded and let herself into the passenger seat of Sammy’s car.

Sammy rolled his eyes. “Sorry for her. That’s just what she’s like.”

“She’s lost her brother,” Emily said quietly, and Sammy couldn’t fault her for advocating for Lily. Not really, not as much as he wanted to.

“Doesn’t give her the right to act all -” he made a vague hand gesture.

Emily nodded just as vaguely and Sammy held back a sigh. He could never get the words right when he was talking about Lily, and that wasn’t going to start now.

He let the rest of them into the car and drove over to the library.

“Research time?” Lily asked as she realized where they were heading.

Sammy shook his head, pulling into a parking space. “Not exactly.”

“Is  _ anyone _ going to tell me what we’re looking at?” Lily wondered out loud, sounding frustrated, as they all got out of the car.

No one answered her immediately but Sammy saw Emily fall back behind him and Ben and start to talk to her in a low voice. Sammy and Ben reached the edge of the woods behind the library and waited for Emily and Lily to catch up, Lily with her arms crossed and looking a little bit annoyed now. Emily just looked a bit helpless.

“We’re really going down the supernatural route?” Lily asked.

“I wouldn’t call it  _ supernatural _ ,” Emily explained. “It’s just  _ unusual _ . Unexplained, maybe.”

Lily looked like she wanted to say more but stopped herself and Sammy silently thanked whoever was listening for it.

“What direction?” Sammy asked, turning to Emily and angeling himself a little bit away from Lily.

Emily looked a bit surprised but quickly composed herself. “Uh, that way, I think,” she said, pointing off into the what looked like it could be a hiking path. While it was slightly overgrown and clearly not often used, there were broken branches and it was much more open than Ben’s path.

Sammy let Emily lead the way, even though he was pretty sure that she had less of an idea where they were heading than Ben had. 

“I think my lungs are actually going to collapse,” Sammy griped as they walked.

“You’ll be fine,” Lily muttered. “It’s just a little walking, Stevens.”

Sammy rolled his eyes. “C’mon. Like you aren’t a  _ little _ tired. When’s the last time  _ you _ went hiking?”

Lily didn’t answer right away and Sammy counted it as a victory. “That’s beside the point. I’m not complaining.”

“No, you’re just bothering me to distract yourself,” Sammy pointed out. 

“ _ You’re _ bothering  _ me _ ,” Lily countered, turning around to glare at him.

“Hey, uh, I didn’t know we brought kindergarteners with us?” Ben said from ahead of them, startling both Lily and Sammy from their argument. “I don’t think we’ll be much longer, right, Emily?”

Emily started to answer but Lily cut in. “You’re the only one here who looks like a kindergartener.”

“Guys?” Emily said, voice cautious, but no one paid any attention to her.

“I’m average height,” Ben argued. “Anyway, the only person taller than me here is Sammy and he’s a giant, so. You’re basically the same height as me.”

“Whatever you say,” Lily muttered.

“Guys!” Emily said now, with more authority, and everyone turned to look at her. “Look over there.” She pointed through the trees to where Sammy could just make out a tall metal fence. 

They all looked at each other and started to walk off the path towards the fence. It wasn’t too far but it was very overgrown, almost making it blend into the trees so you wouldn’t see it if you weren’t looking, which Sammy was sure was the point. There was a big ‘no trespassing’ sign a few feet away from them, brand new-looking but still covered in vines.

They started to follow the fence, keeping a few feet away from it but circling. It was only a few minutes before they saw a big building through the trees, specifically the loading dock.

“What  _ is _ that?” Lily asked.

Emily shrugged. “I’m not sure. I didn’t realize there was anything really out here.”

They kept walking, keeping their eyes on their building until they noticed a truck drive in to the lot they could see about half a mile away. Emily motioned for them to stop and watch as the truck stopped, and one of the big garage doors opened. A few men in matching grey uniforms jumped out and went to the truck, getting into the back of it and carrying out crates. 

Sammy heard Lily fumbling in her bag and when he looked over she had a set of binoculars. “What are you doing?” he asked quietly.

She glared over at him. “At least I came prepared.”

Sammy bit back a sigh. “Well, do you see anything, at least?”

Lily nodded. “All the crates have the same logo on them and I - I don’t know. I can’t read the text of it.” She fiddled with the knob in the center of the binoculars. “Okay. Yeah. They say ‘Science Institute’.” She looked over at the rest of them. “Does that mean anything to you? Ring any bells?”

Sammy shook his head, but Emily spoke up.

“They’re really secretive,” she said. “I know they only just popped up in town this summer, right? Didn’t they have something to do with those complaints about noise and light that people off Old Bombing Range Road had?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, I read something about that. People think that they were responsible. Do you think they could have anything to do with -” he paused, looking cautiously over to Sammy and Lily.

“I don’t think Jack would have gotten involved with them,” Sammy said.

Lily pressed her lips together in a thin line. “I don’t know. He might not have meant to.”

The truck drove away from the loading dock and the big door closed up again. 

 

Sammy dropped Emily off at her mom’s house first, then Lily, and was finally left with just Ben who clambered into the passenger seat as soon as Lily was out of it.

“Dude, you know you could have just gotten out and walked around, right?” Sammy said, huffing a bit of a laugh at the spectacle.

Ben shrugged. “Where’s the fun in that, though? I’m small enough to fit.”

“Thought you were average height,” Sammy teased, making Ben roll his eyes. 

“Yeah, but your car is made for tall people. So there.”

Sammy laughed. “It’s a normal car, buddy. It’s secondhand, I didn’t get any special features or anything.”

Ben huffed. “Whatever you say. Maybe they saw you and only offered the cars for tall people. How would you know?”

“I guess I wouldn’t,” Sammy conceded. “But considering how it’s exactly the same size as most cars and looks like most cars on the inside, I’d wager it’s just normal.”

Ben paused. “I don’t know anything about cars,” he admitted. 

“I barely remember what model this is,” Sammy agreed. “Jack always - hm.” Sammy stopped himself, looking out at the road silently.

Ben let the silence go on for a beat before breaking it. “What?”

Sammy took a deep breath. “Jack always made up makes and models of cars and pretended they were real, and he would spout off all these facts just to tease me for not knowing anything even though he didn’t either.”

Ben laughed lightly, and then sobered up quickly. “We’ll find him, Sammy. I promise.”

Sammy nodded tersely. “Yeah. I just - Jack and I - we were -” he stuttered awkwardly, not sure if he wanted to say it or  _ how _ he wanted to say it. Maybe if Lily would be the person for Jack, then Ben could be it for him, but he didn’t want to make that decision alone. “Close. We were really close” he finished awkwardly.

Ben just nodded sadly. “It must be really hard to miss your best friend.”

Sammy could almost laugh but it hurt too much, this big, unknowable weight on his chest. “Yeah.” He let the silence rush back into the car and Ben didn’t break it this time, but Sammy realized he couldn’t take the crushing weight of it on his skull anymore. “So you and Emily -?”

Ben blushed. “No, it’s not - it’s not like that, really.”

“I dunno, I saw how she looked at you,” Sammy said, awkwardly trying to tease him. He hadn’t really been paying any attention to the two of them in his back seat or on the hike because he was too concerned with Lily and with everything else happening around them, from Jack to what they saw in the woods, but Ben and Emily gave off the same sickeningly sweet energy.

“Do you really think so?” Ben asked. “That she - looks at me?”

Sammy nodded. “Yeah.”

Ben nodded happily to himself. “Nice.”

 

_ Sunday, 7 P.M. _

Lily headed straight to Jack’s room when she got home from work, knocking loudly on the door once before just letting herself in. He had his headphones on blaring music loud enough that she could hear it, and he was bent over his notebook on his desk, his nose almost touching the paper.

She pulled the headphones off but he didn’t react, so she said his name a few times. He still didn’t seem to notice her.

“Is this about Sammy?” she asked, and that got his attention. 

Jack snapped upright in his seat, whipping his head around to look at her. “What do you know about that?” he demanded. His eyes were - she almost didn’t recognize them. It was like he was looking through her, or couldn’t see her at all. They weren’t glazed over, exactly, but they were unfocused, or maybe focused too hard on a point too far away for her to understand.

“Nothing,” she admitted. “Just thought you might want to tell me.”

Jack licked his lips and she realized that they were dry and chapped, almost bleeding. His cheeks looked pale, too, and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked, reaching over as if she was about to feel for his temperature but he dodged her hand easily.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. “I have to go.”

He jumped up and pushed passed her before she could say anything, and she only barely turned around to follow him when she heard their car start in the driveway and she knew that she wouldn’t be getting any answers.

She walked back up to his room and realized that he’d left the notebook on his desk, open to a page full of almost feverish notes and scribbles, and she flipped through it a bit. It started off meticulous, with point form notes that had headings and subheadings and categories, and devolved into something else entirely. She wasn’t sure why she did it, because Jack would notice it’s absence as soon as he was home, but she picked it up and brought it back to her room.


	4. Thursday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a huge project due on Wednesday that I haven't even uhh started but I'll likely post the last chapter of this tomorrow because it's already written I just need to edit it, and I'll spend most of tomorrow working on my project during class because I'm awful.
> 
> Comments are super appreciated !!

Sammy knew that something was wrong when he saw Lily approaching him and didn’t think about leaving immediately. Jack had always wanted them to get along better or at least tolerate each other, and Sammy understood it intellectually - he knew how close they were, and how much Jack wanted to tell Lily about them - but he and Lily just didn’t mix well. Probably never would, but Sammy hoped that they’d at least get the chance. Jack was a good enough reason to try.

She pushed a spiral-bound notebook at his chest. “I found this,” she explained. “It’s Jack’s. He was working on it.”

Sammy held the notebook to his chest where she’d shoved it with one hand, and made a show of taking a leisurely drag of his cigarette. Instead of getting frustrated with him, Lily just rolled her eyes and pulled a cigarette out of her bag and lit it. Sammy raised an eyebrow at her because he knew that Jack got on her case about it, too, but he knew that he couldn’t say anything about it.

Sammy flipped opened the notebook. “What is this?”

Lily shrugged. “Beats me. I tried to read it and I could make it… about ten pages before I couldn’t figure it out anymore.”

Sammy sat down on the half-wall around the electrical box and flipped through it slowly. He made it fifteen pages before he couldn’t understand, which made him feel proud in a way that made him a little sick. After that point the notebook devolved into drawings, some of trees but a few repeated drawings of the same cabin. A few pages into that the drawings turned into a repeated design that was the same outside shape but with different inner details. “What do you think this is?” he asked, turning it towards her and indicating that it continued a few pages farther.

Lily took it from him and flipped through the pages, then back again, then forward. “It’s a map,” she decided, turning it back towards him and tracing lines through some of the drawings. “See there’s like… topography lines, I think. But the path he’s drawn through it is different each time, the spaces in the trees and stuff. It’s like he’s trying to figure out the path and keeps changing his mind.”

“Or the path keeps changing,” Sammy muttered. “Do you… could this be Perdition Woods?”

“If it’s real, then yeah, it would have to be,” Lily said with a shrug. “But it might just be from his head.”

“One way to solve it.” Sammy pulled out his phone and opened Google maps, zooming out and re-orienting the image until it was comparable to the drawings. “There it is.” He held it up underneath the first of the drawings, and the outline on his phone that had appeared when he searched for the woods matched up with the outline that Jack had drawn.

“What can we do about it, though?” she asked. “We’ve hiked through the woods, and all the starting points are different. This one even starts behind the library, I think.”

“I don’t know,” Sammy admitted. “Maybe there’s something else in there that will help.”

She handed him back the notebook. “You keep it, then. I’ve gone through it a hundred times this week and I can’t see anything.”

“You’ve had this all week?” Sammy asked, hand pausing halfway to his mouth. “And you didn’t say anything, or bring this to me - to us?”

Lily took a drag on her cigarette so that she wouldn’t have to answer him right away and Sammy gave her an unimpressed look. “I was pissed,” she answered finally, not quite looking at him. “And I thought I could figure it out myself. He’s my brother, I should be able to understand.”

“Just because you think you know someone doesn’t mean you can see inside their head.” Sammy dropped his cigarette and stamped it out. “I can’t even make it through most of it and I -” he sighed and pulled out his cigarette pack, fiddling with it idly and debating whether or not he should pull out another.

Lily reached over and shut the pack with a finger, careful not to touch Sammy but making her intention clear. When he met her eyes she was smiling sadly. “He would hate that we’re doing this, huh?”

Sammy laughed and it came out more pained than he wanted it to. “I quit because he said he couldn’t get near me when I smelt like an ashtray.” 

“Yeah. He tried to tell me he couldn’t use our car if it smelt like that, and I just said ‘good’.” Lily laughed to herself a little. “Then he threatened to tell our parents.”

“I remember that, he made me drive him to and from school that whole week.” Sammy pulled a face and Lily rolled her eyes.

“Don’t pretend you were annoyed, Stevens,” she teased. “You pick him up most days anyway.”

Sammy shrugged and put the pack back in his bag along with the notebook. “Well, he needs the ride, and what else would I be doing?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t tell me you wait after school for him and don’t like, go home between the end of school and his practice.”

“I can do homework in my car,” he muttered. “This isn’t about me, anyway.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Lily said sadly. “If it’s about Jack then it’s about you. I barely recognize him anymore when he isn’t with you, or talking about you, or thinking about you.”

Sammy was grateful that the cold wind helped him hide the way he could feel his face heating up. “I guess,” he muttered vaguely, hiking his bag up on his shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”

 

Sammy’s locker was poorly painted over. The blue was just a few shades off the ones around it, and there were streaks in the paint were it was thinning enough for the hint of red to come through.  They’d just painted over the edge to get at the bits on the neighbouring lockers, so the outline that was beige everywhere else had a few inches of blue near him. 

Sammy just sighed and went to unlock his locker, resting his hand on it as he sorted his books. He quickly pulled his hand away, though, and saw that his palm was completely covered in blue. The imprint of his palm was also pressed into the locker and he scowled.

“What’s that?” Ben asked, popping up at Sammy’s elbow and making him jump.

“What?” Sammy replied, and Ben just pointed at the notebook. It was different than the ones that Sammy used, but there was very little actually remarkable about it. “It’s Jack’s. Lily just gave it to me.”

“Is there anything in it?”

Sammy shrugged and handed it to him. “Not as far as we can tell. Some weird ramblings and drawings and a bunch of maps.”

Ben nodded as he flipped through, before he freezed on the pages of maps. 

“What’s wrong?” Sammy asked.

“That’s, uhm…” he paused, taking a deep breath. “That’s my dad’s cabin. It’s in all the maps, and the drawings.” He turned the notebook back towards Sammy, pointing out a small object that seemed to appear in the same place in all the drawings.

“Why would your dad’s cabin be there?” Sammy wondered. “Did someone else used to own it? Is there something… weird about it?”

Ben bit his lip. “No, he built it. But, uh, it’s. It’s complicated.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Sammy reassured. “I just want to understand.”

Ben nodded and seemed to compose himself. “Can we talk about it later, at least? I might as well tell Emily and Lily, too, at this point, since they’ll want to know why we have to go there.”

“Yeah, of course. We can leave it for now,” Sammy agreed.

 

They met in front of Sammy’s car again, and Ben looked like he’d seen a ghost. There was no blood in his face and he looked almost sick with nerves. Sammy wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to talk about anything he didn’t want to, but… he needed to know. For Jack.

“Sammy showed me Jack’s notebook,” he started, mostly addressing Emily. Sammy took it out to show her, flipping to the maps. “My dad’s cabin is here.” He pointed to it in a few of the maps.

“Wait,” Lily interrupted. “Isn’t that the cabin that the Perdition Killer used?”

Ben nodded and it looked like he wanted to throw up. “Yup. Dear old dad.”

Emily’s hand went to her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, reaching out to touch Ben’s shoulder, and he leaned into it a little bit. Sammy felt like he was a little bit outside his body - he was still looking through his eyes but he wasn’t connected to the conversation. He registered what Ben said but didn’t fully understand it, and instead his brain latched onto the fact that Ben and Emily were wearing the same shirt and cardigan. 

“It is what it is,” Ben said awkwardly. “But - whatever it is, it has to do with this. And I know how to get there.”

Sammy snapped back to himself. “He was arrested, though, wasn’t he?”

“A couple years ago,” Ben confirmed. “The cabin’s still there and… there’s weird stuff there. I only went one time, before, but - it’s weird.” 

“I guess we’ll have to check it out, then,” Lily said grimly. She went to the car and got into the backseat, which Sammy was a little surprised to see but it helped to have Ben navigate.

They drove for a while on the road out of town and then Ben had them turn onto a dirt road for a while before he finally said they had to stop. “It isn’t actually that long of a walk,” he admitted. “After - everything, they put this road in to connect Old Bombing Range Road and Route 72. Made the hikers mad but there’s lots of carpooling now since people can more easily get to the main roads. And they wanted to cut down on hiking in this part of the woods, even with - even with him gone.”

Sammy wanted to warn Ben that he was rambling but let him go as they got out of the car and walked. If anyone needed to distract themselves, it was Ben. Even with all the thoughts swirling around Sammy’s head about what they might find, he knew that Ben had a much more specific fear.

“He’s been in jail for four years so far,” Ben continued. “No parole, and all that. So he couldn’t have… done anything. That isn’t reassuring, God, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lily said. It wasn’t exactly soft but Sammy could hear the gentleness coming from her and was glad that she wasn’t jumping on Ben for any of it. If it were Sammy she would, in an instant, but he could tell that even she saw the state that Ben was in.

“It’s just - I haven’t been there since I was twelve but I can still remember the way. It’s so weird how some stuff just gets stuck. It’s like - I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I remember this,” Ben said.

When Ben made no signs that he would stop talking, Sammy looked over at Emily and nodded for her to come up behind Ben because she would be the most present of them to actually sooth him. Once she was there, Ben’s rambling did quiet a bit, more directed towards her, and Sammy noticed her hand on his back.

The cabin, when they found it, was smaller than Sammy imagined it. He’d looked at the pictures Jack had drawn and it always seemed to loom over the point of viewing, dark and imposing with heavy strokes of pen shading it in. In reality it was only a few meters square with a door that barely filled its own entrance.

Ben looked behind him before approaching the door and Emily rubbed his shoulder. He took a deep breath and moved the wooden bar that was across the door, holding it closed against the wind, and pushed it open. “Nothing,” he announced.

Sammy walked past him, putting his hand up against the door, just to see. It was all empty inside, just a dirt floor and four walls.

“There used to be a table and chair,” Ben explained. “And - and hunting stuff, but it was all evidence.”

Sammy pulled his hand away and realized that he’d left a blue smudge on the door from when he’d got his books at the end of the day. “Sorry,” he muttered. “I thought it was dry.”

Ben shook his head. “It’s fine. It’s not even mine.” He laughed awkwardly. “Well. I guess - a bust, huh? Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Emily said softly. “It was a good thought.”

Ben nodded but didn’t look convinced. 

Sammy walked them back to the car and started to drive everyone home, ending with Emily this time because she was going to her dad’s house which was out past Ben’s.

“I actually have something I wanted to tell you,” Emily admitted once Ben got out of the car and she’d replaced him in the front seat. “It’s why I came to talk to you the other day.”

Sammy felt something drop in his gut even though he had no idea what she was about to say.

“I saw Jack the night he disappeared.”

 

_ Sunday, 8 P.M. _

Emily was behind the counter of the library when Jack stormed in. He looked around frantically before coming over to her.

“How can I help you?” she asked, defaulting into her customer-service tone because she knew that the head librarian was watching and she needed to keep this internship.

“Do you have anything weird about Perdition Woods?” he replied, pitching his voice low and looking around.

Emily stood up straight, trying not to move away from the counter. She knew Jack from school, everyone did, and normally she wouldn’t think anything about him really. He seemed nice enough when she’d talked to him and there weren’t really bad stories about him, but…. “There’s been a few reported disappearances,” she explained. “And if you go to the newspaper archives there’s a folder about the deaths in the Woods that we’ve already pulled together, as well as all articles relating to the Perdition Killer.”

Jack nodded. “Thanks. What about around here?”

“You mean - the library?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding again. It was a frantic, jerky motion that made her afraid he was going to hurt himself somehow. 

“Recently there’s been the lights up behind us a bit,” she said slowly. “But - not really disappearances I don’t think. A few miles away, though, yes. Further into the woods. Not really recently that I’ve heard of, but I could look into it and get back to you?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t have time but thanks for the help,” he said quickly, and then he was off again and Emily watched him go through the double doors and into the night.


	5. Friday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well!!! This is the last chapter, I hope you enjoy it! Happy Halloween!

Sammy dragged himself to school because it was a better alternative than staying at home under the covers.

“Hey, man,” Ben said cautiously, sidling up next to him. 

Sammy shut his locker and tried to feel glad that it was dry now but he just didn’t care. “Hey.”

Ben paused and Sammy almost turned and walked away before he spoke. “Sorry that it was a bust, yesterday.”

“Thanks.” Sammy nodded his head slightly. “It was worth a shot.”

“We’re gonna figure it out,” Ben said with conviction. “Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t.”

Sammy sighed and resisted the urge to hit his head against his locker. “People don’t usually turn up alive after this long.”

“We have no idea what happened. Maybe he’s just lost in the woods, he’s probably still safe,” Ben said with false enthusiasm. “We don’t have any reason to think he isn’t alive right now.”

Sammy hitched his backpack further up his shoulders. “Sure. Thanks for the help, Ben, but - I think it’s just. What it is.” He started to turn and walk away but Ben grabbed his arm.

“I know you miss him,” Ben said quickly. “He’s your best friend, I get it. That’s why we’re gonna keep trying.”

“Not exactly my best friend,” Sammy muttered, and Ben just looked at him, confused. Sammy sighed. “Are you going to the carnival this afternoon?” he asked, desperate to change the topic.

Ben took it, thankfully. “Yeah. Emily and I were thinking of going together, would you wanna join us?”

“And be your third wheel?” Sammy said with a scoff, and Ben blushed bright red. “I’d love it.”

Ben grinned. “I’ll see you at lunch, then.”

 

Sammy followed slightly behind Ben and Emily as they walked out into the football field where they’d set up all the booths and games for the carnival. There were already lots of people even though it had just started - kids from the elementary school, their parents, and it seemed like all the other high school students had managed to get there before them. 

Ben spotted a ring toss and dragged Emily over. “I’m gonna win that one,” he said, pointing at the big bear hanging in the back of the stall. Emily just giggled and watched as he bought a few rings to start playing.

Sammy watched him play a round and win a small stuffed carrot, which Emily was delighted with but Ben saw as insufficient, before he decided to wander off into the crowd.

A few people glanced towards him as he walked and he felt himself tense under their gaze, but he tried to pay attention to the various tents and the bouncy castle down the row, not letting it get to him.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted someone wearing an army-green jacket, which stood out in the sea of blue and white. Sammy turned towards them, trying to spot them again, but there were too many people. He shook his head and took a deep breath, continuing to walk down the row of tents. It was only a couple moments before he saw it again, a flash of a green jacket and this time he managed to notice it quick enough to step in that direction, moving towards them even as they disappeared from view again.

He tried to see above everyone’s heads but it didn’t help so he just kept pushing through the crowd towards - whoever it was. It was like slogging through chest-deep water, his limbs weighed down as he tried to push between the crowd. He caught a glimpse of the jacket again and this time they were closer and he could see the side of their face - Jack’s face.

Sammy felt everything freeze for a second. The crowd stopped moving, the sound of the carnival filtered out and everything narrowed to a point. And then it all came rushing back in and Sammy stumbled, and when he looked back up he couldn’t see Jack anymore. 

He kept pushing through the crowd, his movements quick and fevered. The trajectory he was following brought him to a gap between the tents, less than a foot wide. Jack was in front of him, like he’d hoped against hope. But he was turning away, moving away from Sammy, and so Sammy reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Jack’s jacket. 

Jack stopped and Sammy took a step closer, taking the opportunity to wrap his arms around Jack. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, and then was started when Jack pushed against his chest. He let his arms drop and stumbled backwards, falling into the tent and causing it to ripple, which started to draw the attention of people in and around the tent.

“Sammy?” Jack said, furrowing his eyebrows in an expression that Sammy couldn’t quite place.

Sammy nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s me, Jack.”

Jack stepped towards Sammy and almost fell against him, throwing his arms around Sammy’s neck and pressing his face into Sammy’s shoulder and squeezing. Sammy felt something hitch in his chest and all he could do was just respond and hold Jack back, tighter.

“I was so scared,” Jack murmured, voice thick and muffled. 

Sammy shushed him softly and rubbed his back, forgetting momentarily that they were still very much in public. But that was broken when he heard someone shout in the crowd behind them. “Leave him alone!” 

The world came crashing in on them as someone tried to grab Sammy and pull him away from Jack, and he was so surprised that he dropped his arms from around Jack but Jack didn’t let go.

“Don’t!” Jack yelled, and that made people actually pause long enough for Sammy to start to move away from the crowd, between the tents and out behind the set up area on the field.

No one followed them right away until Lily came running out after them, and Sammy hadn’t even known she was at the carnival, but she was quickly followed by Ben and Emily as well. Lily didn’t say anything, just barrelled into them and wrapped her arms around both Sammy and Jack.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Lily said angrily, but the effect was lessened by the tears in her eyes. 

Jack laughed but it was a rough sound that Sammy could feel rattle against his chest. “I don’t plan on it.”

 

The police showed up before they could get out of there, including Detective Spears. “We’d like to talk to Jack about what happened,” she said. “Alone.”

“I’m not going anywhere without Sammy,” Jack said stubbornly, and eventually Detective Spears relented because it wasn’t an interrogation. Lily tried to go with them, too, but that seemed too much for Detective Spears and eventually she just agreed to follow them to the police station with Ben and Emily and wait.

Jack just told the police that he got lost in the woods, but Sammy could tell that he was lying. He didn’t bring it up until they were released and had seen everyone else go home, and had convinced Lily to go inside and let them have a second alone in the parked car. She gave them a pointed look but let herself out, leaving the porch light on when she went inside.

“What actually happened?” Sammy asked quietly, looking over at Jack in the harsh light of the car.

Jack took a deep breath and spread his palms open in his lap. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It was - I was looking for something, in the Woods.”

“What?” Sammy asked. “Did you… find it?”

Jack shook his head. “I heard these rumours. I was doing research into the Perdition Killer online and I stumbled onto these maps of the forest. There was one referenced in the evidence - marked with where his cabin was and everything, there was a photo in the article - but that got me looking into it because the map the library has is from two years ago and it was different than the one in the article.”

“Lily found your notebook,” Sammy said. “There were all these drawings of what we thought were the forest but they were just a little different. Was that -?”

Jack nodded. “I was trying to put down all the differences I could find but it got too much and it was like - like I was seeing it inside my head all the time. It kept twisting and I was wondering, like,  _ is this real? What does it look like now? _ ”

“So you… went into the Woods to find out?” Sammy asked. He couldn’t keep the fear out of his tone even though Jack was right there, in front of him.

Jack noticed and reached across the console to touch Sammy’s hand. “I couldn’t take it anymore, I  _ had _ to know. I went to the trail by the library because it just… felt right. I don’t know. But I got lost right away, it was like the colour ran out of everything and it was all just pale and washed out. I couldn’t tell what time of day it was, or how long I was there, I just kept walking. I tried to turn back but the way I’d come was gone, and I turned around at the trees were different.”

“You don’t really know much about the forest,” Sammy said evenly and Jack shook his head, squeezing Sammy’s hand insistently.

“I know that it was different,” he said, and the conviction in his voice made Sammy nod. “But there were a few times I’d find myself on the path by the cabin. The trees around it were always the same, so I knew it was coming before I saw it. I wanted to use it for shelter but the door was locked - I tried to break it down but I couldn’t. It didn’t change so I started ignoring it, until I walked by and it was just - different. I hadn’t expected it because the trees were different, and then the cabin - it was different. I didn’t ignore it because I wasn’t expecting it this time, and there was this - like, a smudge of paint on it? I don’t know how to explain it.”

“It was paint,” Sammy said, voice more hoarse than he’d expected. He twisted his hand in Jack’s grasp to show him his palm, where he’d tried to scrub it off but it was still stuck to him in the lines of his palm. “We hiked up to the cabin yesterday, it was Ben’s idea, it was an accident.”

Jack looked startled, eyes moving from Sammy’s palm up to his face, and then he laughed. “Of course it was you,” he murmured. “You saved me.”

Sammy blushed and shook his head. “It was Ben’s idea,” he repeated.

“I was gonna give you a kiss for saving me, but I guess I could just go find Ben,” Jack teased. Almost before he was done, Sammy was leaning over the console and kissing him and Jack smiled against his mouth.

“What happened next?” Sammy asked when he pulled away. “You saw the cabin, but - what happened?”

“I tried to open the door,” he said. “I don’t know why, I knew it would be locked, but this time it just… wasn’t. It opened and the cabin was empty but I walked in because I hadn’t been in any sort of shelter in - I don’t know how long, exactly.”

“Four days,” Sammy muttered. “Over four days, probably.”

“Well, fuck,” Jack said flatly. “Did they announce homecoming king?”

Sammy stared at Jack like he’d grown a second head. “Do you really care about that right now?”

Jack shrugged. “I guess not. But - did they?”

“It wasn’t you,” Sammy informed him. “I was a bit too busy to figure out who it was, though. One of the other football guys, probably. Why does it matter? How did you get  _ home _ ?”

“It was like the world reset when I managed to get into the cabin,” Jack replied. “I can’t really explain it - it was like I was walking through a bad photocopy of an old picture, before. It kept warping and didn’t really represent the real world, but when something affected it it snapped back into place. It took a few hours but I eventually found the path near school and got out. And the reason why homecoming matters,” Jack continued, a teasing glint entering the previously serious expression he’d held as he leaned closer to Sammy, “is because I wouldn’t want to make the queen jealous.”

Sammy wanted to reply to that but Jack was kissing him before he could say anything, reaching up and smoothing his hair back. He laughed and pulled away after a second. “Are you saying I’m your queen?”

Jack shrugged. “If the shoe fits.”

Sammy rolled his eyes. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jack replied with a nod. “I love you, too.”

Sammy smiled and put his hand on the side of Jack’s neck. “Then never tie me to school events again,” he said lightly, and he pulled Jack back in.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments are super appreciated! I hope you guys enjoy this fic :)


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